Posted 2 years ago on Oct. 2, 2012, 11:21 a.m. EST by shoozTroll
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"Reuters has the scoop on an event that took place earlier this week where nearly a hundred education profiteers — ranging from executives at testing companies to private equity moguls eager to invest in education technology — met at a swanky Manhattan club to cheer on the privatization of the U.S. education system:"

I am surprised at all the right wingers. I suppose that simply shows the fear they have for this forums possible success. Not that there is much influence/success. I think there might be more without the disrupting infiltrators.

The sad state of education is all the gov. Doing they have been on charge since the beginning. If you think there's nothing wrong with way things are then your high. I don't see how tossing more money at doing things the same way will change anything.

Look plenty of retarded shit is taught in public schools ad I'm sure an equal amount in charter, that doesn't change the fact public schools are pathetic and have a track record to show it. If charter schools produce the same results as public then we stop funding them as well. You want to protect the status quo and elites in public education. They are paid for by me I want results not excuses.

In the United States, which has muddled along in the middle for the past decade, government officials have attempted to introduce marketplace competition into public schools. In recent years, a group of Wall Street financiers and philanthropists such as Bill Gates have put money behind private-sector ideas, such as vouchers, data-driven curriculum and charter schools, which have doubled in number in the past decade. President Obama, too, has apparently bet on compe­tition. His Race to the Top initiative invites states to compete for federal dollars using tests and other methods to measure teachers, a philosophy that would not fly in Finland. “I think, in fact, teachers would tear off their shirts,” said Timo Heikkinen, a Helsinki principal with 24 years of teaching experience. “If you only measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect.”
Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
The country's achievements in education have other nations doing their homework

Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”

It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for all 5-year-olds, where the emphasis is on play and socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Ninety-seven percent of 6-year-olds attend public preschool, where children begin some academics. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Stu­dent health care is free.

In 1963, the Finnish Parlia-ment made the bold decision to choose public education as its best shot at economic recovery. “I call this the Big Dream of Finnish education,” said Sahlberg, whose upcoming book, Finnish Lessons, is scheduled for release in October. “It was simply the idea that every child would have a very good public school. If we want to be competitive, we need to educate everybody. It all came out of a need to survive.”

Practically speaking—and Finns are nothing if not practical—the decision meant that goal would not be allowed to dissipate into rhetoric. Lawmakers landed on a deceptively simple plan that formed the foundation for everything to come. Public schools would be organized into one system of comprehensive schools, or peruskoulu, for ages 7 through 16. Teachers from all over the nation contributed to a national curriculum that provided guidelines, not prescriptions. Besides Finnish and Swedish (the country’s second official language), children would learn a third language (English is a favorite) usually beginning at age 9. Resources were distributed equally. As the comprehensive schools improved, so did the upper secondary schools (grades 10 through 12). The second critical decision came in 1979, when reformers required that every teacher earn a fifth-year master’s degree in theory and practice at one of eight state universities—at state expense. From then on, teachers were effectively granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants began flooding teaching programs, not because the salaries were so high but because autonomy and respect made the job attractive. In 2010, some 6,600 applicants vied for 660 primary school training slots, according to Sahlberg. By the mid-1980s, a final set of initiatives shook the classrooms free from the last vestiges of top-down regulation. Control over policies shifted to town councils. The national curriculum was distilled into broad guidelines. National math goals for grades one through nine, for example, were reduced to a neat ten pages. Sifting and sorting children into so-called ability groupings was eliminated. All children—clever or less so—were to be taught in the same classrooms, with lots of special teacher help available to make sure no child really would be left behind. The inspectorate closed its doors in the early ’90s, turning accountability and inspection over to teachers and principals. “We have our own motivation to succeed because we love the work,” said Louhivuori. “Our incentives come from inside.”

*Charter schools in the study were more effective for lower income and lower achieving students and less effective for higher income and higher achieving students. In addition, charter schools in large urban areas had positive impacts on students’ achievement in math; those outside these large urban areas had negative impacts on achievement.

Charters should be able to do mini schools within public schools to augment, and tutor.

Parents can still choose private schools, if they like. For schools that have big issues, poverty schools, Big Business and colleges should focus resources to support those students. 71 percent of Chicago students live in poverty.

Don't your arms get tired of carrying dem water? Blame everyone else is your mantra, dem teachers unions have had 100% control of education for a long time try and be honest for once and blame the right ones and not just a dem cheerleader

That's the only attempt your worth. Your argument holds bullshit that's all, you can blame anyone but teachers/unions for the sad state of our education period! You advocate more of the same toss money to a broken system..... Sad

Ohh yea extreme left Wing links make it all ok, you have no trouble calling me on my bullshit don't be shocked when I call you out. Why do you think biased left wing sites are the end all proof to whatever crazy line of shot you are trying to sell. I never post right wing links because they are biased but you think you can do the opposite?

It's something you wouldn't know anything about honesty, you are full of shit and you wonder why this movement is what it is. You can't beat lies with lies you are just as pathic as the ones you rail against.